cherry blossom
by LuvrofItachi
Summary: Ok so this started out as being a Sakura and Gaara story I decided that I did not like the pairing. So I hope that you all enjoy the new spin on my story. Sakura is now 21 years old and let just say that this year will do her good.
1. Chapter 1

She was on her way home from yet another solo Anbu mission when she felt strong chakra heading her way. She secured the scroll that she was sent to retrieve and assessed the situation. There was no way that she could out run them they were coming up close and fast. She counted five people coming from the west and seamed to be Junín level, also she felt three faint chakra signatures coming from the east; these were quite familiar signatures to her. "Thank Kami" she mumbled to herself. The pink haired medic was still about a half a day away from Konoha and she was running low on chakra. "Well, well if it isn't Haruno Sakura former apprentice to the fifth hokage," Chirped a young blonde boy from the rock country. "Hand over the scroll that you have stolen from us and we will spare your life," spat a blue haired girl. "You also have forgotten that I have taken the place of the slug sannin. You underestimate my abilities don't you?" Spat Sakura. At that a kuni was sent flying her way as it hit her she poofed into a cloud of smoke. "What a shadow clone?" shouted the blue haired girl? Sakura though was behind the girl with a Kuni to her throat. "I told you that you underestimate my abilities." At that she pressed a nerve on the girl and she fell unconscious. The blonde boy had grabbed sacra's hair and pulled her back. The pinkete who still held the kuni in her had reach back and sliced her hair. "Thanks I needed a hair cut!" she shouted to the boy as he fell backwards. "Give me the scroll we know your low on chakra I can sense it." Shouted a black haired boy. "not on your life" shouted the pinkette. At that she gathered the last bits of chakra to her heel and tapped the ground causing the earth to break apart trapping the rest of the ninja. Sakura fell to her knees at the chakra drain. Trying to gather her strength back she grabbed a hold of the tree she had fell by trying to stand and yet she fell back to her knees.

The blue haired girl came to around the time to see Sakura strugeling and smirked pulling out a kuni she sent it flying towards the pink haired kanoichi. Seeing that she could not move before the impact of the kuni sakura braced to be hit. Moments before the kuni reach her she was surrounded in a wall of sand. A giant wind passed through the forest and hit the girl she fell to the ground dead. The wall of sand around the pinkette disappeared from which it came Sakura sighed in relief. Temari kneeled next to sakura and assessed the damage. "are you ok" the blonde woman asked. "yes thanks to you guys." Stated sakura "I don't think that I could have held out much longer." She sighed again. Temari nodded. Well its still dark out so Gaara and Kankuro lets rest a while and have Sakura escort us to the Village. The boys nodded with agreement and sakura relaxed and closed her eyes leaning against the tree "what a way to spend the first moments of my 21st birthday" Sakura mumbled loud enough for Temari to hear. The blonde smirked at the pinkette and sat down next to her. As the sun was starting to rise above the trees the four shinobi walked into the gates of Konoha. She smiled at the guards and told them she was heading to the hokage tower and would escort the three sand siblings there herself. They smiled at her and nodded.

She handed her scroll as well as her mission report to the hokage and told him about the misfortune as to why she was late coming back he nodded. "Hokage-sama" she smirked ah her long time friend and former teammate. Naruto just glared at her "I hate when you call me that Sa-ku-ra." The pinkett just smiled "I know that why I do it." Temari let out a chuckle at that. "well if that will be all I will take my leave and let you speak with your company. Naruto nodded at her. "kazakage-sama, Temari-san, Kankuro-san thanks you again and I hope to see again before you leave." She bowed and headed for the door. Before she got to open the door naruto had grabbed her arm. "wait one moment." The young blonde hokage spoke to her. "one more thing sakura would you please escort Gaara to the festival tonight?" Sakura looked over to the tanned redhead and blushed. "Kazakage-sama" she bowed "please just call me Gaara." Sakura's face turned a shade redder "a-alright Gaara it would be a pleasure." Trying to hide her blush she turned to Naruto. "will Hinata-san be joining us?" Naruto nodded a yes and she smiled. "oh by the way sakura happy 21st birthday." As the young hokage hander her a box wrapped in pink paper. She gently opened the package and pulled out a silver bracelet each link being part of a branch on a tree and the clasp was a pink cheery blossom. Naruto put in onto her wrist and was wrapped in a big hug. "thank you Naruto." "thank Hinata she picked it out for you." Said the blonde. Temari stepped up to Sakura "before I forget Sakura this is for you from the three of us." She handed Sakura a wooden box with cherry blossoms carved into it. She opened the box the reveal a pair of silver chopsticks with cheery blossoms at the top of them. Sakura shed a tear and hugged Temari. "Thank you so much it's beautiful. "Alright you may go now, we will see you at seven infront of the romen stand. Get some rest until then" The young Hokage stated. Sakura nodded and left in a wirl of cherry blossoms. "I think I will go for a walk" stated Gaara. With that he too left in a wirl of sand.

"Do you guys think this will work out?" asked Naruto to Temari and Kankuro. Temari smiled. "Naruto he loves her as much as he hates to admit it he fell in love with her. Since she left the sand to come back here for her parents funeral he has been brooding. He got lost back in his work and never takes the time to enjoy what is there. Sakura changed him some how. His wall of ice was melting and I have never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at her. Naruto for both of them I hope we can get them to relize what it is that makes them happy. When she was in the sand for the last year I statred to see that spark of life and happiness come back to her eyes." Temari sighed "He needs her more than he knows." Naruto nodded in agreement. "she hasent been the same since her parents died. It was like watching her fall like when Saskue left all over again. For her sake as well I hope that she will realize what will make her happy even if that means loosing her to you all. I would truly miss her but I would give anything to make her spark back to life again. Temari agreed with the statement with a nod.

Sakura had finally stepped to her apartment door. Since she had left the hokage tower all she had on her mind was Gaara. She had spent the last year in Suna teaching medical practice to a group of willing students and had grown to love being there. She had been living with the Kazakage and his family and they had all grown very close. Gaara had been there when know one else was.

Flashback

Sakura was really missing home she had been in suna for a week now and really hadent make any friends besides the sand siblings. Temari and her had become more like sisters since Sakura had helped to save Gaara's life from the atuski. She hopped on the window seal and jumped up onto the roof maybe looking up at the sy would help her to relax. She sat down on the roof and laid her head back looking up at the stars. A few moments later she felt someone sit down next to her and lay back. She turned her head and jade and emriald eyes met for a few moments. Gaara turned his head to look back up to the stars. "cant sleep?" he asked her. "Not really." She said to him. "Sakura what is wrong" he questioned. "I just miss home and my friends. All the people here look at me like I am a freak or will bring harm to them. Its kind of depressing really." She stated. "Don't let them bother you, your just new to them they will warm up to you eventually. As far as missing home I cant really help you there but I hope you grow to like it here." He said. "I hope so, Thank you gaara for listening to me." "Hn" he said. She rolled over to her side then and said "cant any of you guys ever give a strait answer is "HN" even a word?". He just smirked at her.

End flashback.

On her door setp was a bundle of wild cheery blossoms. She picked them up and grined to herself as she unlocked the door. Walking inside and flipping on the switch there stood Gaara waiting for her. "You really need better security" he grinned to her. "some one that you don't want to break in to your home." "Gaara, well at least it was you and not some unwelcome intruder she smirked. She ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you for coming I have really missed you." She smiled to him. The butterflies in his stomach were in over drive as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hn" was all he said and she laughed as a smile started to spread on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

"So Gaara, have you talked to Mitzume and asked her out on a date yet?" questioned Sakura to her long time friend. "No but I was planning on asking her to accompany us to the festival tonight." He stated. "Well she has been doing well here since you sent her with me. I feel that she is ready to spread her own wings in the hospital in Suna now, plus I think she is really starting to miss home." The pinkette stated. "Hn, if you feel that she is ready to go home then we will take her home when we get ready to return." Stated Gaara. Sakura winked at Gaara and smirked. "You know I think that your siblings and Naruto are trying to set us up together." She stated as she sat down on the couch. "What they don't know is that we think of ourselves as siblings. Gaara I appreciate everything you helped me with in Suna and after my family past on it was really hard but you know I think that I am past all of that now. I think that I am ready to move on with my life now." Said Sakura to her friend. "I am glad to here that because I was really worried about you. Naruto sent me a message that said you were taking all these high risk assignments and was very worried about you as you can see that is why I am here to talk to you about this" he stated to her. Her green eyes grew wide at this statement as the shock should through out her face. "I had no idea, if that is how he felt he should have just said something to me. I know that I am not the same person that I once was but I feel that I have changed for the better" she stated. Resting her head in her hands she sighed. "Gaara, I guess you, Naruto and I need to sit down and talk about this. I don't want people to assume that I am in total turmoil, I just wanted to prove to myself that I am still capable to do what I can for my village" she stated with tears in her eyes. Gaara patted her on the back "we will talk with Naruto but I think that it is about time that you have found out that there is more to life than just proving yourself. Sakura I think that it is time that you find that special person that makes you feel like life is great. That is how it is with Mitzume and I. Please just settle down and relax and enjoy life" he said to her. At this he yawned and sat back. "I do believe that it is time for a nap. What about you?" he asked her. She just grinned at him and nodded. Gaara got up and stated "I will see you tonight then." And with that said he left her apartment. "I guess it is shower time then." She said to herself standing up and heading to the bathroom.

She turned on the water in the bathroom and started to remove her clothing. Stepping in to the hot water she sighed. The crusted dirt and blood started to run down the drain as she let her muscles finally relax. She hummed a melody that her mother you to sing to her when she was younger. She grabbed her shampoo and lathered her hair as she washed the muck from her pink locks she thought about what Gaara had said to her. Enjoy life find that special person and don't be alone forever she thought to herself as she rinsed out her hair. Turning off the shower and stepping out she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her small frame. Heading to her room she heard a knock at her door. "I will be right there" she shouted running to her room grabbing a pair of black shorts and a light pink tank top. Still towel drying her hair she opened the door her green eyes went wide as she took in the person's appearance. There stood Neji at her door clutching his side. She could see the blood coming from the wound "Hyuga-san what happened?" she asked pulling him into her apartment. "I was returning from a mission and was ambushed by Uchiha." He said to the pink haired medic. "Your home was closer than the Hospital and with loosing this much blood I would not have made it there" he commented while looking at her aperance. "Hyuga please sit down so that I can heal you" she said as she led him to a chair. Pulling at his shirt she grabbed her medical kit at cleaned his wound. "Uchiha? She questioned "why? What did he want?" she asked Neji as she rubbed some salve on his wound. "He did not say but, I assume that he is after Naruto by the looks of it." Neji said. Wincing at the pain as she healed his wound he looked at her. "Haruno-san" at that she stopped him "It's Sakura, Neji just call me Sakura." She said to him looking into his eyes. "Sakura, just be on your guard don't think that he would not come after you since you are the closest thing to Naruto besides my cousin of course." She nodded at that statement "Neji don't worry about me. I am so far over him now it's been what 8 years since he left. After 3 years I gave up hoping that he would return especially since he tried to kill my best friend or more of a brother. I will be fine. Remember Neji I too am an Anbu just like you." She stated while wrapping a bandage around his waist. When she finished she stood up and turned to go put her medic bag up but he grabbed her wrist and turned her around. Standing up himself he cupped her face and said "I just don't want to see my closest friends die or even get hurt." He said tilting her face up to look at him dropping his hand then when she looked into his eyes he stated "I will see you at the festival tonight." With that statement he left he house. She looked at the now closed door to her apartment and touched her cheek. "I could have sworn that I saw some type of emotion in his eyes." She said to herself as she turned to her room for some much needed rest.

Awaking to her alarm she stumbled out of her bed to the bathroom. Looking at the little clock it was flashing 5:15 p.m. She yawned and stretched and then washed her face. Walking back to her room she was deciding what Kimono to wear to the festival tonight. Finally picking one out. The Kimono was black silk with large cherry blossoms at the bottom and smaller ones sweeping up and around her torso like the wind blowing them. Her obi was a light pink matching the blossoms on the kimono. She pulled up her hair into a bun and tied a black ribbon around it and added the chopsticks with the cherry blossoms that the sand sibling had given to her. Clasping her new bracelet around her wrist that she received from Naruto and Hinata. She checked her aperance. Adding a small amount of pink eye shadow and some lip-gloss she was ready to go. Glancing at the clock she had 20 mins to get to the roman stand to meet the others. She put on a pair of black heels and headed to the designated place that they all had agreed to meet.

Stepping into the latten lit streets she sighed. The medic met up with the group of friends outside the ramen stand and great them. "Hello" she said smiling. There stood all of her friends and the three sand siblings. They all greeted her. "Happy Birthday Sakura you look amazing tonight" was heard from the crowd. The pink haired medic just blushed. Mitzume came up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you Sakura-sensei for all that you have done for me. I will be leaving with the others tomorrow." "Mitzume it was a pleasure training you and I know that you will do wonders in Suna. Also get Gaara I know that's what you have been waiting for. Be his escort tonight and have a great time" whispered Sakura in the young girl's ear. "Well let's get this party started" shouted Lee as he took Tentens hand. "Bring on the Sake" he shouted. The group burst into laughter as they headed down to their favorite pub.

Neji eyed Sakura's attire and had a hint of a blush as the group chatted about missions and life. "I never realized how attractive she is" he said to himself. TenTen and Ino over heard him and grinned wickedly to each other.


End file.
